Tag Archives: gulf coast claim facility

Why your BP Claims are not getting Paid

BP Claims on Hold

The Gulf Coast Claims Facility has sent out letters to many recently that their BP Claims are denied, or that the GCCF is requesting more documentation to substantiate your claim. Why, after months and months of processing is the GCCF doing this now.

It is all part of a larger tactic employed by the GCCF of Delay, Deny and Defend. The longer you wait for your BP Claims money the more people become disenchanted with the whole process. Many people decide not to take further action, or not to take any action at all. This is playing right into their hands. They want you to lose interest in the BP Claims process.

If their true intention was to make it right as their slogan says, the BP Claims process would be more streamlined and more fair. By making the process more difficult the GCCF is saving BP money. Lets remember that the GCCF is run by Ken Feinberg who is paid by BP. He is paid 1.3 million dollars per month to administer the BP Claims money through the GCCF. Feinberg tried desperately to portray himself as independent of BP, it took a ruling by Judge Barbier in New Orleans to tell him to stop saying he is Independent.

BP Claims Fund is paid Quarterly

The GCCF is allotted 1.2 Billion dollars from the 20 Billion dollar fund every fiscal quarter. That money goes to paying off as many small BP claims as possible, with a few large ones that are being represented by aggressive BP Claims Attorneys. Paying off the small claims first helps the GCCF look impressive statistically. Look at how they manipulated people into taking the BP Quick Pays. First they delayed paying anybody with Oil Spill Claims for sometime, promising people that Interim claims would be forth coming. Then after months of not paying those BP Claims they came out with the BP Quick Pay, 5k for individuals and 25k for business`s, this was only after people reached a high level of economic desperation. This also allowed them to take over 100,000 oil spill claims off the books, in a short amount of time, and people gave up their right to sue BP.

The BP Claims Shuffle

This is what the BP Claims process is coming down to, The GCCF is stalling because it does not have the full 20 Billion Dollars in the Bank, it is funded incrementally. When the money runs out, so does their ability to pay claims. What is the GCCF’s best line of defense? Your BP Claims are UNDER REVIEW, or your BP Claims have been Denied, please reapply.

None of this helps much when your world is in economic collapse due to the Oil Spill. Lately, BP has been making deals with its partners to pick up some of the cost. Weatherford International has agreed to pay BP $75 million, Mitsui has agreed to pay BP 1.1 Billion. BP still has ongoing suits against other Deepwater Horizon partners Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron International as part of the multidistrict litigation that is ongoing in the U.S. District Court for Eastern District of Louisiana.

With all of this money coming in and the energy BP is expending to bring it in, you would think that if they used half of this effort you would assuredly have gotten your BP Claims paid by now.

Our BP Claims Solution

The Dream Team of Attorneys that we have connected with to serve you, all have specialties in the BP Claims Process. They are major players in the upcoming litigation, one is on the Plaintiffs Steering Committee, another has received the highest award for his clients from BP ever, another firm specializes in Interim Claims and Denied Claims with a quick turnaround time, they are all here for you. All you have to do is fill out the form to the right. Do you really believe the GCCF when they tell you your BP Claims are still under review.

BP Claims And BP

If You Google BP Claims you will see a paid ad from BP that reads: Visit BP’s Claims Page & Learn How To Make A Claim Without A Lawyer. If you haven`t figured it out by now, if they suggest you go left, you may want to strongly consider going right.

By this time many of you have tried to work out your BP Claim with the GCCF only to hear that your claim is UNDER REVIEW, or they NEED MORE DOCUMENTS, which then puts your claim at the bottom of the pile again, they often forget to tell you that. Many of you figured that the GCCF would deal with you in good faith, only to find out otherwise.

Simply put, they are stalling. The GCCF is allotted only 1.25 billion (from the 20 billion set aside) each quarter from BP – they spend it paying off as many “nuisance claims” as they can – and a few “high-maintenance” claims (which are usually represented by aggressive attorneys) – this is done in a few weeks, leaving them to stall again for the next two and a half months.
If you are a Business owner or an Individual, and counted on BP ” Making it Right” you may have a long wait. BP and the GCCF do not want you to take into consideration that you may have Multiple Claims, that the true extent of your losses may not be known in the time window they have given you to calculate your losses, when in fact the true extent of damage done and the long term effects on the economy, the environment, and your health won`t truly be known for years, how do you calculate that in your BP Claims.

BP Business Claims Example: Multiple BP Claims

The Attorneys that we work with are playing leading roles in the upcoming litigation in New Orleans. Plus, they have more experience holding BP accountable then any other law firms in the country, and have the support staff to make sure every Revenue Stream that you or your Business has coming in has been accounted for, and how the Oil Spill and the Stigma may affect your BP Claims.

For Example: a Seafood Restaurant in Grand Isle didn`t just lose customers because nobody was going out there, they also had a rise in seafood prices because product had to be shipped in.

If that same restaurant owned their building, that property greatly depreciated. That too was affected. Now lets go even further, and say that restaurant owned boats that would usually be used for fishing or shrimping, but instead were used in the Vessels of Opportunity program to help clean up the Spill, they couldn`t go fishing and sell the catch to other vendors, and the boats themselves were damaged in the clean up process.

Then you need to factor in how long all of these different events will affect your Business. The fact is nobody really knows, but a good rule of thumb is 3-5 years, barring any other occurrences.
This is an example of Multiple BP Business Claims.

BP Claims and Forensic Accountants

How do Attorneys figure the extent and types of damage that your Business incurred, Forensic Accountants.

Forensic Accountants specialize in looking at a business, taking all things into consideration and arriving at real number that covers your losses.

Do you think that BP or the GCCF are going to help you accurately take all of these different factors into consideration when you are working directly with them? They have no intention, or the resources to help you calculate how long you, or you Business will be affected for, not to mention the Multiple Claims the you may have. They have their BP Claims Methodology in place, who do you think that benefits.

The BP claims process has become adversarial, just think about this. After months of not paying out any interim or final claims, they came up with the Quick Pay, if your Business lost revenue from the spill and it looked like you had a good claim against them, they made blanket offers of 25k to all the businesses that were affected and individuals got a 5k offer.

When in fact many business owners and individuals lost so much more, they did this only after many months of not paying them anything, many took these Quick Pays just so they could keep the doors open a little longer or to pay overdue bills, but they also agreed not to sue BP. There is a strategy going on here, it is called Delay, Deny, Defend, commonly used by unscrupulous insurance companies, the way the GCCF is handling your BP Claims is no different.

BP Claims Experts on Your Side

The first thing to remember is that BP and the GCCF are by no means on your side, just look at their actions. Oil Spill Attorneys that have the proper resources in place, and truly want to protect their clients best interests are the best way to get the compensation you deserve from BP.

Seasoned Oil Spill Attorneys that understand the process, and are respected in their field and are able to get the GCCF and BP`s attention.

Already some of the Attorneys we work with have been asked to consolidate their cases into blocks so that the GCCF can settle their whole case load or blocks of their case load. Why, because they know these Attorneys mean business, and BP does not want to go into litigation against them. While other Attorneys have gotten claims paid within 2 months.

What does this mean for you, it means that you will have BP Claims Experts on your side, we have seen people who initially thought their claim was only worth 10k walk away with more then 60k.
If your claim is settled in a block of claims you don`t have to accept the offer, this is why it is not a BP class action. Your claim is still going through the BP Claims Process after it has been thoroughly investigated and maximized. Finally, if a BP settlement can not be reached it will move to litigation, where an Expert Attorney who knows Oil Spill litigation will fight for your Rights.

All this being said there is an old adage ” Never bring a Knife to a Gun Fight” I am proud to say that we do have the Biggest Guns for this Fight. The Dream Team of Attorneys we have connected with, will do their best to get your BP Claims paid.

GCCF to Close Offices

After a comprehensive review of the 35 GCCF site offices throughout the Gulf, the GCCF has decided to close eight of the claims offices throughout the Gulf region,” says Camille Biros of Feinberg-Rozen, the law firm headed by Gulf Coast claims czar Kenneth Feinberg. One office in Alabama, and four offices in Florida also will close.

Louisiana legislative leaders are asking Ken Feinberg, who is overseeing the payments from a $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, to keep open three claims offices he plans to close next week.

Senators Speakout on GCCF Office Closures

Senate President Joel Chaisson and House Speaker Jim Tucker sent letters to Feinberg on Tuesday pushing for the claims offices to remain open in Lafitte, Grand Isle and Morgan City. The offices are slated to close June 1.Chaisson says the closure of three claims offices could increase frustrations against Feinberg and would be a disservice to those still struggling to recover from the disaster.

Sen. Norby Chabert, R-Houma, said in an online interview that the decision will be a “travesty,” especially since many claims originating in these areas will still be pending action at the end of the month.

“The BP people should be knocking on doors to help people, not closing down the office that’s set up to help them,” Chabert said.

GCCF by the Numbers

As of May 19, there had been a total of 512,000 claims made through the GCCF, which have resulted in $4 billion being paid out.

In Louisiana, 200,000 claims have been filed and $1.3 billion awarded.

The GCCF has reviewed almost 88 percent of all interim and final claims. Their Numbers

GCCF and Statistics what they don`t want you to Know

The Reality is The GCCF has deployed a strategy of working their way up the claims ladder, paying the least amount possible to the most amount of people so that their statistics look impressive, and they will continue that strategy for the foreseeable future. I know as a fact that they are taking the lesser claims first as they are getting ready to settle the next group of claims.

Remember the GCCF is on a budget. There is not 20 Billion dollars sitting in a bank account, the 20 Billion is funded in increments on a quarterly basis, approximately 1.25 Billion per quarter. That is why there is waves of claims being settled every 3 months, the next wave coming in mid July. If you look at the quick pay settlements which were a travesty in my opinion, they setlled about 100,000 claims by waiting people and business`s out, then offering them 5k and 25k respecitvely, the next wave of claims to get settled is going to be many of the lowerend waiter and waitress type claims, again so there numbers look impressive statistically, remember statistics lie and so does BP.

They promised to make us whole, they promised payments would be quick, they promised this would be a fair process. Instead they are paying the least possible to the most possible so statistically they look impressive, we all learned along time ago that statistics lie.

The good news is we have connected with Attorneys that are getting people paid, if you need help, and had enough, fill out the form to the right.

The GCCF is run by Ken Feinberg who has found a niche for his law firm Feinberg/Rozen settling large numbers of cases against a particular defendant. In this case the defendant is BP Oil.

The GCCF and Feinberg: How they Work

Feinberg/Rozen is used to handling a large amount of claimants that are represented by Attorneys that have been injured by unscrupulous or careless Business`s. Their other current large case is Avandia, a drug whose true side effects were hidden by GlaxoSmithKline, resulting in death by heart attack for many. In this case people who have been harmed by taking Avandia retain Attorneys to settle their claims against the makers of Avandia through Feinberg/Rozen. The Attorneys usually put together blocks of claims from 100-1000 then each case/claim is given a dollar amount based on injury. The claimant either agrees or disagrees with the number and has the right to accept or reject the offer. This is the way Feinberg/Rozen is use to working. They have systems in place to handle large amounts of claims brought to them by Attorneys, this historically is the way they work, and the GCCF and BP claims process is no different. They tell you you don`t need an attorney, but in actuality their systems and processes insist on having an Attorney involved, it`s just the way they work.

Attorneys are settling GCCF and BP Claims in Bulk

As I write this I know of Attorneys that have settled their entire case load with Feinberg Rozen and the GCCF, and I know that more Law Firms are currently negotiating with them to settle 10`s of Thousands of cases. The GCCF does not want you to know this, they want you to believe that your case will be handled by the GCCF in an independent and timely manner. People have been waiting a very long time now to get their Interim or Final claim money only to be given a quick pay offer where they have to sign away all future right of suing BP and settle for 5k for an individual or 25k for a business regardless of the business losses.

GCCF Percentages

Lets look at the Percentages of types of claims the GCCF has paid Quick Pay 97% paid Interim Claims 14% Paid Final Claims 19% Paid Attorneys understand how to work with Feinberg/Rozen and many have worked with them before on other types of cases. They have Forensic accountants on staff to insure that all losses are accounted for. The GCCF and Feinberg do not want you to use an attorney, they promised us timely payments, they told us they were independent, they lied. We have put together a Dream Team of Attorneys that know how to handle the GCCF and to help you, let them.

Denied GCCF Claims

I am getting lots of calls from people and business`s that got GCCF denied claims in today.
The reasons are quite often similar, there was not enough connection to economic loss, between the business or individual affected and the Oil Spill, so says the GCCF, lacking paperwork, or no reason at all. Don`t be surprised if after you receive your denied GCCF claim that it is followed up by a final claims offer, as I think that this is the strategy that BP/GCCF is going to use. Mind you I am not an Attorney but if the GCCF holds to form, they are just trying to make individuals and business`s even more desperate, so they can come in with a very fast, low ball, final claim offer, but this is only a guess.

GCCF Paperwork

The good news is many of these people have their paperwork together, and they can take that to an Attorney that specializes in GCCF Claims, that includes denied claims.

The other good news is, even if the GCCF denied your claim, you still have multiple options, you can resubmit, you can resubmit with an Attorney, and don`t forget you can always SUE BP. There will be some interim claims paid as well as some final claims offered, but I think much of this will be in litigation and then things will begin move faster, in the final analysis most will need Attorneys. When your case or claim is with an Attorney there is also the likelihood, and it has already happened that the GCCF will settle out a bundle of that attorneys cases or claims. This is why many perceive this process to be like a class action, but in this process the claimant has the ability to accept or reject the offer.

So don`t despair if you got a GCCF Denied Claim today, there are options.

Bundles of GCCF Claims

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